This is something I just realised. (FYI: 'off the boat moment' is the feeling you get when you first witness the scenery in an ES game and are truly able to free roam. Notable cases are in Morrowind and Oblivion).

I had a friend of mine (who has never played an ES game before--hardcoe fps and sports games player) run through the first parts of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, starting with Skyrim. She played about half an hour of each game and at the end of all three runs she noted how both Oblivion and Morrowind have an atmosphere that creates 'awe' and Skyrim (even though the gfx are sixy) lacked the same feel.

That made me think and upon a rebooted character I noticed the lack of atmosphere in Skyrim and of course the lack of that special ES moment. Perhaps the overall pacing and management of story had something to do with it or maybe the musical score (sometimes I go through 4-7 mins of game without a single chord playing).

Another thing my test subject (lol) noticed is the character dialouge got better with each previous ES game. Skyrim's NPC dialogue seemed to be a lot 'worse' in writing. I suppose by worse they meant less articulate maybe?

Just wandering if anyone else noticed this, or even agrees with it. There have been several complaints about SKyrim's lack of depth (which is a much better saying than 'dumbed downed-ness'), even though I do think Skyrim is severly lacking depth it has its value as a short term action adventure-ish game (put 100 hours into it vs oblivion's 450 and Morrowind's 800+ hours before I got totally bored).

yea, now that you mention it it feels lackluster compared to the other game. there is a total different feel overall tbh, i just cant place my finger on what causes it though

for skyrims off the boat moment i kinda gotta think about the 40 minute demo todd howard did back before it was released where he was just leaving the intro dungeon. anyways i deffinately got that feeling during that demo.
sure by the time i played the game that was diminished, but still i would have to disagree.

morrowind for me cant be compared to. skyrim and oblivion come the closest to reproducing the effect morrowind had, but still stand very far away.

I can remember feeling physically scared when I got out of the sewers for the first time, and the quest note ''to start your quest head west towards weylon priory, or you can pick a direction and go anywhere you want. Good luck!'' or whatever it was never fails to make me smile when I read it. Bethesda actually tried to remove this in skyrim, as it's ''intimidating and puts off younger players from joining the franchise''. Skyrim just does'nt feel as big as the others.

With Morrowind it was like "Welcome to the world, try not to die!" all by yourself in this huge enviroment with little idea what the heck to do. Same with Oblivion, to a lesser extent, since you get to run through a dungeon first perfecting your "Don't Die" skills before you get tossed alone into the world. Here in Skyrim, the very first scene takes place not in a dungeon or prison ship, but right out there in the big world. No transition from a small cell to the giant expanse of the universe. No contrast. Also when you finally do get your freedom you have your buddy you escaped with making sure you won't die and telling you where to go and what to do right from the get go. I can see what you mean.

Morrowind surprised so many because nothing like it had really been seen before. Oblivion surprised so many because it came out at the start of a whole new gen of gaming. Skyrim doesn't have the same immediate 'wow' factor because of how spoilt we gamers are nowadays in regards to graphics and draw distances and what not, and also out familiarity with the franchise. Maybe next gen we might get an 'off the boat'/'out of the sewers' moment, though I was still impressed when I saw the clouds drifting along the mountain tops for the first time.

Nothing compares to that first look when you step outside the vault in Fallout 3.

Reading some of these replies, I do feel the same way, and I think I know why. Oblivion was suppose to be the next best RPG in a long time (and was), but with Skyrim, well, from what I found, it feels like Bethesda were just making the sequel with the Oblivion formula, but without the next est RPG thing. Now, don't get me wrong, the creation engine, the weighted trees and all that technology is great, but the thing is, it's a sequel that generates a lot of hipe because of Oblivion, and you can only improve so much on what is already brilliant. I mean, sure, Oblivion had problems but you can't expect people to just wait 5 years and Bethesda release a game that is exactly the same as Oblivion. Humans like variety, and a lot of people want different things. If Skyrim doesn't have a lot of mystery and awe, well maybe the system is getting old. Maybe Skyrim is the beginning of the end of single player RPG's because too much is too little. Times are changing.

Wait wait wait

That rathole town of Seyda Neen or the Imperial prison was supposed to make me fall to my knees and dribble out the word "wow" along with copious drool over how breathtaking and moving the atmosphere was? But by comparison the opening scenes of Skyrim were lackluster?

You guys are on drugs. You're talking about vivid colors and alien shapes, not inspiring scenes.

I think the part when you're finally out in the open after leaving the underground torture room is meant to be it. Lackluster, I agree.

That moment actually happened for me when I left Riverwood and stepped into the plain, ready to descend toward Whiterun. The whole tundra deployed itself before me, with the mountains in the background, and it is only then, even if I had played several hours already and cleared Bleakfalls Barrow, that I had the "this is an Elder Scrolls game" feeling.

You're not alone when you leave Helgen, so that takes away a bit of the 'Oh crap I'm all alone in this big big world, what do I do?' feeling.

I think is about expectations. People was expecting a master piece because all the trailers and all that so their expectations were just way too high; what did they get? a really good game, not a master piece but a good game.

So they immediately were disappoint and started comparing Skyrim to Oblivion and Morrowind because that what all the gamers do. In the video game industry this formula apply:

New game = the old ones were better and this new one is missing X.

The new game becomes an old game automatically being better than the new one that is coming on because somehow the new (now old) game become deep and awesome.

At least 90% of the time this happens.

We're not talking about the graphics, but the feeling of openness, the feeling of not knowing what the hell to do with yourself, the way the world is revealed to you that makes you think 'i'm totally lost' within 10 minuites of starting the game.

And when they were released, morrowind and oblivion did have drool worthy graphics compared to the standard at the time, and people did think 'wow'.

That's very chicken little-esque of you.

Back in the 1980s, this type of game was considered dead too, when I was exploring the street of Skara Brae in "A Bard's Tale' and games that came out before that.

And then- cycles being what they are- interest came back. Baldur's Gate, etc. Just like internest in certain types of automobiles, architecture, and fashion wanes and waxes in the real world. You're taking a tiny slice of fact that you have wondered about, and building off it it. In engineering, they call that the "one data point" syndrome. You need a larger data set.

The moment I stepped off the boat in MW I had a 'wow' moment. Then I talked to a few NPCs, couldn't get my head around all the things they were talking about, took a break, went back an hour later and was hooked.

Didn't really get that with Oblivion, maybe because MW had already done that to me, I knew more or less what to expect.

Same with Skyrim.

That said, once I started to travel Skyrim a little more I found it really has atmosphere, similar to MW and something that I didn't really find in OB. And there are still some 'wow' moments in Skyrim for me, like standing on the porch of a house I purchased and looking out over the lake - breathtaking.

That's great news, because if you read my post again, the word "graphics" is not present. The word "atmosphere" is, however. I feel you must know the difference.

Also, don't try to school me on MW or OB. When you say "people" here, you mean you, and other people that shared that view. Not "people" as in 'the entire group" as if I don't have any idea of what I'm about. MW had good art direction as far as it went, but the pallet was chosen to be slightly off the expected and alien, and many contrasts and colors were anacrhonistc. In OB, the pallet was chosen to be more natural, but things were still very bright and colorful because of contrasts. In Skyrim, the contrasts are lessened in many situations, which highlights big changes. Example- people say that Skyrim is 'gray'. This makes the first tiome you see the Aurora that much more striking.

The opening scenes of MW, OB, and Skyrim are all about the same for 'wow' factor as far as I'm concerned, and in my opinion it's a good thing. Each game established it's look and feel early, got the player used to that look and feel, and saved the 'wow' moments for the players that go look for them. That you disagree is inconsequential

ye i think skyrim lacks excitement in all areas.


i roam around roleplaying my character but none of the quests have any wow factor to them..

I do them i get some meaningless item and i go home to store it,

rinse and repeat


this game looks nice but is really empty or missing sumthing that makes it unique.

Morrowind's "go get my laundry, it's a mile down the road behind a hill for some reason" quests were more inspiring? You're just jaded.

Firstly, I wasn't talking about gfx (because both MW and OB were the best gfx of their time, and Skyrim is not). I was talking about the feel of it and the atmsophere.

Secondly, MW quests were better than Skyrim's because they actually ahd good storylines behind them.

Well, sure, I may be doing this 'one point data' thing. But face it, Skyrim is same s**t, different story. I mean, everythings Great about the game, but it lacks a once unique feeling you get when playing other TES titles. I know its harsh, but Skyrim, unfortunatly, is for lack of a better word, aging fast. Changing game mechanics in every sequel won't be enough for much longer.

I'd like to state something after having read a few of these post. From my standpoint and the way you are phrasing the words, it seems that the OP and a few others only "noticed that Skyrim lacks the off the boat moment" (their words not mine, TES for life! ) when someone else pointed it out first. If this is the case, then you probably didn't feel this way at first and are in a way, being subtly (I think I spelled it right, who knows . . .) Influenced in your opinion by others. My suggestion would be to not read or listen so much into what another person's 'worse?' Experience was like as it might in a strange way, bring down your own. That being said, I could be 100% wrong on everything I have just said. if so, sorry.

That was what I loved about Morrowind, no whinny tutorial really. Just Here is the vast new world, try not to die....Learn how to play or die is more like it...lol

''Don't try to school me''? Don't to over-react. Morrowind and Oblivion had cutting edge visuals at the time. Simple as. I'm not talking about contrast or colour choice or anything else, just that they looked very good in their day. Not that visuals are all important, but their visuals were of a very high standard. You're too busy being defensive and acting like i'm insulting you that I can't actually tell wether you're agreeing or disagreeing with my point here.

And if you read my post again, you'd realise i'm not referring to graphics or atmosphere in regards to the 'off the boat moment', but how the world is introduced. Namley, Skyrim holds your hand the entire way and guides you in slowly, whereas Morrowind dumped you off in the middle of no-where and let you fend for yourself, and Oblivion did similar, albeit with a slight introduction. It used to be a lot more 'fend for yourself', and it was much better because of it. In Morrowind/Oblivion, we felt lost. It was scary at first, but a couple of hours into the game and the feeling was great. Skyrim goes out of its way to avoid that feeling, and I personally feel the 'fend for yourself' approach was much better.

I knew Skyrim was lacking something, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Now I know.